Sea ice is melting, making it harder for polar bears to feed, breed and move around. (Tom Brakefield/Thinkstock)

Recent stats about the effects of climate change on animals don’t make for a story with a happy ending.

For one, we know our planet’s been getting warmer. The nine warmest years on record occurred after 1998 — and 2012 was one of them, according to NASA scientists. The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report showed that those hotter temperatures correlated with a consistent rise in sea level and a steady drop in snow and ice cover.

On top of that, within very recent history, we’ve seen many species teetering on the edge of extinction, a list that includes 1,140 mammals, 1,313 birds, 847 reptiles and 1,948 amphibians critically endangered or threatened. Large percentages of these groups are vulnerable to climate change, a June 2013 PLOS One study revealed.

Research about the long-term effects on wildlife often conflicts. On the question of whether animals can evolve fast enough to keep up, some scientists say no, others say the creatures will learn to “fit in.” Though we know that climate change can alter where animals live, what they eat and how disease-resistant they are, we don’t yet know the long-term outcome.

Here’s a look at some species already in the line of fire and how they’re coping. To start, the polar bear.

The polar bear has been one of the “faces” of the climate change movement, namely because sea ice, which the animal depends on to feed, breed and travel, is melting, a National Wildlife Federation report states. “As the extent of sea ice has declined, most markedly in the southern portions of their range, so has polar bear body size, reproductive success and survival of cubs.”

The large, white bear is shielded by the Marine Mammal Protection Act and in 2008, was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. (A court decision this past March upheld the listing, “the first and most high-profile example of the use of the Endangered Species Act to force the federal government to adopt regulations addressing climate change,” according to the blog Endangered Species Law & Policy.)

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